Mediation of tasks based on assessments of competing cognitive loads and needs

• US 8,825,304 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2010
• Issued: 09/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Horvitz, Eric, Iqbal, Shamsi Tamara
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Calvin
• Assistant Examiner(s): MARTINEZ BORRERO, LUIS A
• Application Number:
  US12/827,037
• Publication Number:
  US 20120004802A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,525 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/23, 701/29, 701/36, 701/45, 701/469, 701/300, 701/301, 701/70, 701/29.1, 705/10, 705/7.12, 705/4, 340/439, 340/903, 340/425, 340/540, 340/575, 340/573.1, 340/576, 340/435, 600/300, 600/554, 235/386, 702/19, 702/182, 455/345, 307/10.1, 382/154, 382/103, 382/107, 180/271
• US Class Current: 701/45
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning

Abstract

Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed for mediating tasks in real-time for safety-related concerns. A nature for a safety-related primary task, such as contextual elements of the task, is determined; and a nature of a secondary task that draws attention away from the primary task is also determined. A risk factor for a potential lack of cognitive resources which may be needed by the primary task is determined by applying the nature of the primary task and the nature of the secondary task to a trained risk factor model. The risk factor is applied to one or more safety-related systems in real-time, for example, to mitigate potential safety concerns.

Claims

1. A computer-based method for mediating tasks in real-time for safety-related concerns, comprising:

determining, at least in part via a processing unit, a nature of a primary task related to safety based on a complexity of the primary task, the complexity based on one or more characteristics of the primary task, the one or more characteristics of the primary task not comprising speed, the one or more characteristics of the primary task corresponding to at least one of a traffic condition or an environmental condition, the nature of the primary task indicative of cognitive resources required to perform the primary task;

determining, at least in part via the processing unit, a nature of a secondary task, the nature of the secondary task indicative of cognitive resources required to perform the secondary task;

determining, at least in part via the processing unit, a risk factor for a potential lack of the cognitive resources required to perform the primary task by applying the nature of the primary task and the nature of the secondary task to a trained risk factor model; and

applying, at least in part via the processing unit, the risk factor to one or more safety-related systems in real-time.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining a nature of a potential intervening interference; and

determining the risk factor by applying the nature of the potential intervening interference to the trained risk factor model.

3. The method of claim 2, determining the nature of the potential intervening interference comprising determining one or more of:

traffic-related interferences;

route-related interferences;

environmental related interferences;

or

primary task performer related interferences.

4. The method of claim 1, the primary task comprising vehicle operation.

5. The method of claim 4, the secondary task not comprising vehicle operation.

6. The method of claim 1, determining the nature of the primary task comprising determining a context of a vehicle operation task in real-time.

7. The method of claim 6, determining the context of the vehicle operation task comprising gathering real-time information related to vehicle conditions.

8. The method of claim 1, determining the nature of the secondary task comprising determining a context of a communications-related task in real-time.

9. The method of claim 8, determining the context of the communications-related task comprising gathering real-time information related to mobile communications.

10. The method of claim 1, at least one of determining the nature of the primary task or determining the nature of the secondary task comprising one or more of:

gathering real-time telemetry from one or more systems associated with at least one of the primary task or the secondary task;

gathering real-time task-related information from one or more non-task systems;

or

determining a probabilistic model for the nature of the primary task using the gathered telemetry and task-related information.

11. The method of claim 1:

where the primary task comprises a vehicle operation task, determining the nature of the primary task comprising performing one or more of;

gathering real-time vehicle safety-related information;

or

gathering real-time vehicle operation-related information.

12. The method of claim 1, applying the risk factor to one or more safety-related systems in real-time comprising one or more of:

lowering a threshold for activating a safety related system;

activating a safety related system;

or

mitigating performance of the secondary task.

13. The method of claim 1, applying the risk factor to one or more safety-related systems in real-time comprising one or more of:

using the risk factor to automatically take control of one or more systems related to the primary task;

using the risk factor to provide one or more alerts to one or more performers of the primary task;

using the risk factor to activate one or more systems that mitigate performance of the secondary task;

or

using the risk factor to activate a cue indicative of multitasking.

14. A system for mediating tasks in real-time for safety-related concerns, comprising:

one or more processing units; and

memory comprising instructions that when executed by at least one of the one or more processing units, perform a method comprising;

determining a nature of a primary task related to safety based on a complexity of the primary task, the complexity based on one or more characteristics of the primary task, the one or more characteristics of the primary task not comprising speed, the one or more characteristics of the primary task corresponding to at least one of a traffic condition, an environmental condition or a route condition, the nature of the primary task indicative of cognitive resources required to perform the primary task;

determining a nature of a secondary task, the nature of the secondary task indicative of cognitive resources required to perform the secondary task;

determining a risk factor for a potential lack of the cognitive resources required to perform the primary task by applying the nature of the primary task and the nature of the secondary task to a trained risk factor model; and

applying the risk factor to one or more safety-related systems in real-time.

15. The system of claim 14, the method comprising:

determining the risk factor by applying a nature of a potential intervening interference to the trained risk factor model.

16. The system of claim 15, the method comprising determining the nature of the potential intervening interference.

17. The system of claim 14,

determining the nature of the primary task based on one or more of:

real-time safety-related telemetry;

or

real-time vehicle operation-related information.

18. The system of claim 14, the method comprising:

determining one or more primary task factors using a primary probabilistic model; and

determining one or more secondary task factors using a secondary probabilistic model.

19. The system of claim 14, applying the risk factor to one or more safety-related systems in real-time comprising one or more of:

lowering a threshold for activating a safety related system;

activating a safety related system;

or

mitigating performance of the secondary task.

20. A physical computer readable medium device comprising instructions that when executed perform a method for mediating tasks in real-time for safety-related concerns, comprising:

determining a nature of a primary task related to safety based on a complexity of the primary task, the complexity based on one or more characteristics of the primary task, the one or more characteristics of the primary task not comprising speed, the nature of the primary task indicative of cognitive resources required to perform the primary task;

determining a nature of a secondary task, the nature of the secondary task indicative of cognitive resources required to perform the secondary task;

determining a risk factor for a potential lack of the cognitive resources required to perform the primary task by applying the nature of the primary task and the nature of the secondary task to a trained risk factor model; and

applying the risk factor to one or more safety-related systems in real-time.